Vid Pick: Pale Houses – The Ocean Bed (Lyric Video)

If you’re a fan of Jacque Cousteau, or BBC’s Blue Planet series, you know there’s a heck of a lot happening on the ocean bed. There’s also a heck of a lot happening on Pale Houses’ latest single, “The Ocean Bed.”

Off of their Songs of the Isolation EP – the Nashville-based indie pop band’s first release in half a decade – both the song, and the lyric video, take you on a journey. Lyrically there is the journey of a relationship, while visually there is the journey of a fairly epic road trip.

I caught up with Pale Houses vocalist Aaron Robinson to find out more about “The Ocean Bed,” as well as what went on during the band’s long break in-between releases, and what other kind of houses they might try their hand at working on.

Tell everyone about the traveling footage in the lyric video for “The Ocean Bed.” Is this footage you shot yourself, or b-roll you randomly found on the internet?

Our drummer, Ryan (Rayborn), was able to take a lengthy cross-country trip last year while the rest of us were putting finishing touches on the record. The majority of the footage from the video is from that trip.

He would get mixes sent to him while he was in remote places, and he'd have to find decent enough internet service to reply with his feedback, which proved difficult pretty often.

I think the video turned out really cool, especially considering that none of the footage was recorded with the intention of it being used for a music video.

In what ways do you feel the song connects with the footage?

First of all, some of the tracks were literally being recorded at the very moment some of the video was shot, which is just cool, but I also think the travel footage does a good job of visually communicating the song’s main idea.

The song is about the long journey that relationships take, and the troubles that inevitably arise.  It's about persevering though trials, and not being defined by your worst moments. It's about keeping love alive.

I love the fact that the video ends with the starfish, which has a lot of positive symbolic meaning that I relate with, and that relates to the song – connection, empathy, and regeneration.


Speaking of the song, are the lyrics about someone specific, or are they more representative of a situation many of us go through in life?

It's definitely a first-person song that applies to my own experiences, but I think everyone has gone through some version of what's happening in the lyrics. Finding harmony with another person can feel easy in the beginning, but people are always changing. It helps to never lose sight of the center of gravity that brought you together in the first place, and to really work to understand each other as life barrels chaotically forward. 

Looking at your Bandcamp page … is this your first release in five years?!?! What life events have happened over the past half decade, and how do you feel those events have shaped your music?

Man, we all had kids!

It was just that time in our lives, and we mostly synchronized it. It made for a long delay, but hopefully we've gotten most of that out of our system, and we can focus on being a bit more artistically prolific from now on.

For me, the last five years have felt like some kind of second adolescence. There have been so many life changing events, and so much beauty and chaos, that it’s felt very awkward and destabilizing, but the love I have for my son is like nothing I can explain. The song “Who Will I Be For You,” from our new EP, is all about not screwing the parenting thing up.

Now that “The Ocean Bed” has been released, what else is in the works?

“The Ocean Bed” is on our new EP, Songs of the Isolation, which was released on March 30th. Folks who are just hearing about us should pick up the 12’’ vinyl version of our EP from our Bandcamp page. It includes two remastered tracks from our first EP, as well as an amazing remix by Imaginary Towers of one of the tracks from the new EP.

Since Songs of the Isolation just came out, it'll be a bit before we put out another one. That said, we will be releasing more remixes and have plans to release some more interesting stuff throughout the year.

Finally, you are Pale Houses. John Cougar Mellencamp had a hit in 1983 with the song “Pink Houses.” Will you team up for a home renovation show at some point?

Ha! I think if Vanilla Ice can get an HGTV show, then anything is possible.

For more Pale Houses check them out on Bandcamp, and follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.